USD team competing to make world better

LINDA VISTA  A team from the University of San Diego has advanced to the regional finals of a competition to promote social good.

The group is seeking the fourth annual Hult Prize, which is the world’s largest student competition and crowdsourcing platform for social good.

The prize was recently named one of the top five ideas changing the world by President Bill Clinton and Time magazine.

Student teams will compete in five cities around the world for a chance to secure $1 million in start-up funding to launch a sustainable social venture.

USD’s team will compete in San Francisco on Friday and Saturday. The 2013 Hult Prize is devoted to global security and focuses on how to get safe, sufficient, affordable and easily accessible food to the 200 million people who live in urban slums – a challenge personally selected by Clinton.

Team members from the USD School of Business Administration are Yogesh Sayanakar, Ira Wibisono, Danidu Wijekoon, Jeff Haislet and Saad Alrabiah.

Each of the teams was selected from more than 10,000 applications received, totaling more than 350 colleges and universities, and representing more than 150 countries.

Following the regional finals, one winning team from each host city will move into a summer business incubator, where participants will receive mentorship, advisory, and strategic planning as they create prototypes and set up to launch their new social business.

A final round of competition will be hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative at its annual meeting in September.

Delegates of the initiative will select a winning team that will be awarded the $1 million prize by Clinton.